Right behind cardiovascular problems (such as heart attacks), cancer is the most common cause of death in the United States. Although there has been significant success in the preventive, palliative and treatment strategies for cardiovascular disorders, many cancer types still go undiagnosed until a late stage (metastasis away from the site of origin). This is primarily because routine clinical check-ups do not reveal them in early stages (for example, ovarian and brain cancers). Additionally, prostate and breast cancers, although often can be diagnosed before terminal stages, the recurrence of new tumors that evade the primary modality of treatment (surgery, radiation, hormone- and chemo-therapy) emerge often at different metastatic sites often the bone and lungs.
Noscapine, and various noscapine analogs, are known to exhibit tubulin-binding properties, without substantially altering tubulin polymerization, and have been shown in the clinic to be useful anti-cancer agents. Noscapine is currently in clinical trials.
Folic acid receptors (FR-α receptors) are overexpressed in many tumor types, particularly in cancers of ovary, breast, prostate, and brain (gliomas and pituitary adenomas).
To date, there have been no modifications of the noscapine framework which target the noscapine to tumor cells. It would be advantageous to provide noscapine analogs which effectively target tumor cells. The present invention provides such noscapine analogs.